Carroll County Commissioner Richard T. Yates denied yesterday that his vote last week to return a small parcel of land in Gamber to the High Ridge Association was influenced by the fact that the association president was his campaign treasurer.
"It just happened that he was involved in it," Mr. Yates said.
Dave Bond of the 1300 block of High Ridge Drive was Mr. Yates' treasurer during last fall's campaign. Mr. Bond said he has been the homeowners association president for about two years.
He said he became involved in Mr. Yates' campaign because the candidate supported the association's position in a dispute involving a 50-by-15-foot piece of land it owned at the end of High Ridge Drive.
The association had lost the dispute.
"Everyone told us nothing could be done politically and that we would have to fight in court," Mr. Bond said. "I didn't think he [Mr. Yates] could do anything about it. But I was pleasantly surprised that he could."
On Friday, the County Commissioners voted 2-1 to reverse a 1992 decision by the previous board of commissioners condemning the small piece of land so that the county could extend a road, which would have allowed Aaron E. Green of the 2900 block of Birdview Road to develop a tract of land adjacent to the High Ridge neighborhood.
High Ridge Association members did not want more homes to be built at the end of their street. They challenged the condemnation in Carroll Circuit Court and lost. They then appealed to the Court of Special Appeals, where the case was pending until last week.
The commissioners' vote returned the land to the association and has stopped -- possibly temporarily -- Mr. Green's plans to build 11 homes on 1- to 2-acre lots at the end of High Ridge Drive.
Mr. Bond said he did not try to hide his connection to Mr. Yates' campaign. "I'm very comfortable with my position in this whole situation," he said. "I expected sour grapes from the other side."
Mr. Yates said he was opposed to the commissioners' decision to condemn the land in 1992.
"When I accepted him as my treasurer I had forgotten he was involved in that," Mr. Yates said.
Commissioner Donald I. Dell, who voted for the 1992 condemnation and against reversing it, said he knew about the link between Mr. Yates and Mr. Bond.
"I knew about it all along, and it's very interesting," Mr. Dell said. "I promised Richard I wouldn't say anything."
Mr. Dell said he warned Mr. Yates that he might receive "political flak" as a result of the situation.
Mr. Dell said he spoke from experience. In October, he and
former Commissioner Elmer C. Lippy were criticized when they voted to name Mr. Dell's campaign treasurer, Robin B. Frazier, to a five-year term on the Planning Commission.
Commissioner W. Benjamin Brown said yesterday he did not know that Mr. Bond was Mr. Yates' campaign treasurer until Mr. Dell told him. Mr. Brown said he and Mr. Yates visited the High Ridge neighborhood to see the land and talk with association members.
He said Mr. Dell told him about the political connection after that visit.
"I don't see a conflict," Mr. Brown said. "The facts of the case are so simplistic" that political influence would not matter, he added.
Mr. Brown and Mr. Yates said Friday that the government should use its power of condemnation only to benefit all residents.
Mr. Green's attorney, John T. Maguire II of Westminster, said yesterday that he had wondered why the commissioners chose to reconsider the 1992 condemnation decision.
"I was hard for me to understand the motivation behind the commissioners' actions. This would be an explanation," he said.
Mr. Bond said Mr. Dell had a conflict of interest in the original
decision to condemn the land because of his acquaintance with Mr. Green.
Testimony in the Circuit Court case showed that Mr. Dell was acquainted with Mr. Green's father, Charles Green. Yesterday, Mr. Dell said his parents both grew up in Gamber and that the Greens also had roots in the area.
He said he did not know Aaron Green until he came to the commissioners' office several years ago.
Mr. Maguire said Aaron Green wants to develop part of his 135-acre farm. In November, the county Planning Commission gave preliminary approval for an 11-lot subdivision at the end of High Ridge Drive.
The attorney said his client will continue to look for a way to extend High Ridge Drive over the land owned by the High Ridge
Association.